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From: alexander koryagin <koryagin@erec.ru>

Hi, Roy Witt!
I read your message from 11.06.2013 10:22

 ak>> an aquanaut, in water; an astronaut - a person traveling between
 ak>> stars (that's why it is, for a while, an incorrect term). An
 ak>> alconaut - is a person who drinks often. ;=)

 RW> That's the same way that naut is used in the English language. Also
 RW> in English, astro- means 'outer space' not specifically 'stars'...
 RW> the study of the stars is called astrology, while the study of
 RW> astrometry is of a celestial body, such as Mars or the Sun.

   Well, it is probably because that in ancient times people thought
that the planets were stars, too. "Planet" means a wandering star. That
was the only difference between planets and stars, and, therefore,
astronomy learned both the stars and planets. But it's another matter
now how to call a man who travels in space. Now we know the difference.
BTW, in Russian books of scientific fantasy we also have an equivalent
of "astronaut", but we call in such a way only those people who travel
between stars really.

<skipped>
 RW>>> Whoever heard of the term, cosmostrolgy, being used to describe
 RW>>> the practice of astrology?

 ak>> Well, IMHO cosmos is a more general term. After leaving the Earth,
 ak>> and we are in cosmos.

 RW> By leaving the Earth's atmosphere, one is in space... as an
 RW> astronaut would be.

   You do, but the word "space" is not a self-sufficing term. There is
space in a kennel, too. When we speak of the space where the stars and
planets move, we, if we want to be perfectly correct, speak of the
cosmic space. That's why "cosmonaut" is more correct. ;-)

<skipped>
 RW> "Aerodynamically, space begins about 120 miles [190 kilometers]
 RW> from earth. Physiologically and psychologically, however, it starts
 RW> only 12 miles [19 kilometers] up, where survival requires elaborate
 RW> protection against an actual space environment."

 RW> It is a very interesting adventure...

   Yes, however, the more interesting is the fact that humans think of
the outer space as about a empty lifeless space. But actually, 96
percent of things that exist in the Universe are located in the place
which people call vacuum.

Bye, Roy!
Alexander Koryagin
fido7.english-tutor 2013

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